Kyal Horsley (born 2 September 1987) is an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who formerly played for the

Gold Coast Football Club The Gold Coast Suns, officially the Gold Coast Football Club, are a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club is based on Queensland's Gold Coast in the suburb of Carrara. The ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL). Originally from

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie-Boulder (or just Kalgoorlie) is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder as the surroundi ...

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

, he previously also played with the Kalgoorlie City Football Club in the

Goldfields Football League The Goldfields Football League is an Australian rules football league based in the Goldfields-Esperance, Goldfields region of Western Australia. Founded in 1896 as Hannans District Football Association, the league enjoyed a seat and full voting ...

(GFL) and the

Subiaco Football Club The Subiaco Football Club, nicknamed the Lions and known before 1973 as the ''Maroons'', is an Australian rules football club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). It was founded in 1896, and admitted to the WAF ...

in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

(WAFL), where he finished runner-up in the 2011

Sandover Medal The Sandover Medal is an Australian rules football award, given annually since 1921 to the fairest and best player in the West Australian Football League. The award was donated by Alfred Sandover M.B.E., a prominent Perth hardware merchant an ...

Luke Blackwell Luke Blackwell (born 9 November 1986 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian rules footballer. He formerly played for Carlton in the Australian Football League (AFL), and for Claremont in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) where he wa ...

. Horsley was drafted by Gold Coast with the second pick in the 2012 Rookie draft, and made his debut for the club in round five of the 2012 season. He was delisted by the club at the end of the 2013 season, after 14 games. Horsley returned to the

in 2014 to captain the WAFL side for the 2014 season. Horsley had a powerful return to the WAFL finishing third in the

count after leading the Lions to their 12th premiership.

Football career

Horsley was born and raised in

, in the Goldfields region of

. He excelled in a number of sports at junior level, playing A-grade

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, representing Western Australia at hockey at under-15 and under-16 level. Horsley made his debut for the Kalgoorlie City Football Club in 2003, at the age of 16, and won the Mitchell Medal as the best player in the

(GFL) in 2006. Despite wishing to remain in Kalgoorlie, he was recruited to the

in the

(WAFL) in 2007. Horsley made his debut against in round 16 of the 2007 season, kicking two goals and recording 21 disposals, and played a total of 10 reserves games and seven senior games during the season. The following season, he played 21 games mainly as an inside midfielder, winning the '' Football Budgets award for the Best First Year Player, and tying with Adam Cockie for Subiaco's Rookie of the Year award. Horsley made his state debut for

in 2008 against Queensland in

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

, and also played in the interstate game in 2010. In 2011, he played 23 games, including the grand final loss to , and won the Tom Outridge Medal as Subiaco's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

player, as well as finishing runner-up in the

as the best player in the league. Speculated as a likely selection in either the 2011 National draft or the 2012 Rookie draft, Horsley was eventually taken by with the second pick in the Rookie Draft. He had previously been invited to train with , prior to the start of the 2008 season, but was not drafted. Horsley spent the first few rounds of the season with Gold Coast's

reserves team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

in the

North East Australian Football League The North East Australian Football League (NEAFL ) was an Australian rules football league in New South Wales, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The league was formed in November 2010, and its inaugural ...

(NEAFL), but was elevated from the

rookie list The rookie list is a means for Australian Football League (AFL) clubs to maintain additional players outside the 38-man primary or senior list. Category B rookie-listed players are not eligible to play in AFL home-and-away or finals matches unle ...

to the senior list after

Jarrod Harbrow Jarrod Harbrow (born 18 July 1988) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life Harbrow was born in Cairns to an Indigenous Australian mot ...

received a long-term injury. He made his debut the following week against at

Docklands Stadium Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands, Victoria, Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 199 ...

, replacing the injured Gary Ablett, and recorded 19 disposals and eight tackles. Overall, Horsley played 13 games in his first year, and was considered one of the club's better players throughout the latter half of the season, with ''

The Gold Coast Bulletin The ''Gold Coast Bulletin'' is a daily newspaper serving Australia's Gold Coast region. It is published as ''The Gold Coast Bulletin'' on weekdays and the ''Weekend Bulletin'' at weekends. It is owned by News Corp Australia. History The ...

'' noting that he provided "that dash of maturity so needed in a young club". At the club's Club Champion Awards held at the end of the season, Horsley received both the "Most Professional" award and the "Iron Man" award. He was upgraded to Gold Coast's senior list for the 2013 season in October 2012, during the 2012–13 off-season. Horsley played only senior game during the 2013 season, after rupturing his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

(ACL) midway through the season. He was delisted by the Suns at the end of the season, and returned to Perth at the end of the season. Horsley returned to the WAFL with the

where he was announced captain in the pre-season. Horsley recovered from his anterior cruciate ligament injury for Round Four against Peel; kicking the first goal in a 17-point win over the Thunder. He amassed 499 disposals from 19 games on the season as well as leading Subiaco to their 12th WAFL premiership over the

East Perth Royals The East Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Royals, is an Australian rules football club based in Leederville, Western Australia, current playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). Formed in 1902 as the Unio ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Horsley, Kyal 1987 births Gold Coast Football Club players Kalgoorlie City Football Club players Living people Australian rules footballers from Kalgoorlie Subiaco Football Club players